A Beautiful Sound

I took a walk around the neighborhood this morning and the photos above are what I saw. People getting ready for winter, covering the windows with yukigakoi (boards that keep the weight of the snow from breaking the windows), changing their tires to snow-tires, putting poles around their trees to protect them from the weight of the snow, harvesting their remaining daikon radishes etc.

The pictures below are what I saw from our window around 4pm - just as it was getting dark and the temperature was dropping.

The forecast calls for 30-50cm overnight. I can't wait to get the snowshoes out tomorrow! The only problem is that the snow is VERY wet and heavy. As we walked to the onsen bath tonight, we found that the streets, still retaining heat from the brief spat of sun earlier today, reduced everything to a thick slush. I hope that it gets a bit more "fluffy" later in the winter, but for now I am happy happy happy. As I write this Tomoe and I sit in the living room listening to the regular crash of snow avalanching from the roof. What a wonderful sound!